Study: Antibiotics Don’t Kill Lyme Disease Bacteria

390650 03: A Close Up Of An Adult Female And Nymph Tick Is Shown June 15, 2001 On A Fingertip. Ticks Cause An Acute Inflammatory Disease Characterized By Skin Changes, Joint Inflammation, And Flu-Like Symptoms Called Lyme Disease. (Photo By Getty Images)Ticks (file/credit: Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New research may be bad news for thousands who suffer from Lyme disease.

But recent research finds Lyme disease bacteria persist even after antibiotic treatments.

Scientists infected mice with Lyme disease then treated with antibiotics, thinking they’d destroyed it. But when a tick bit one of the mice, it still contracted what’s called spirochetal bacteria, which causes Lyme disease.

Other studies are examining whether the bacteria lives with humans as host.

Each year, 300,000 people are treated for the disease, Murdock reported.

Some Lyme disease patients said the research isn’t surprising since they still suffer symptoms after several rounds of antibiotics.

“Antibiotics helped me from being crippled and in pain every day to a working, active person in society,” Lyme disease sufferer Jessica Thompson told Murdock.

But she added they’re grateful research continues and hope for an eventual cure for the debilitating disease.